There are a wide range of sterilising devices known for sterilising baby/infant equipment such as bottles, teats, soothers (pacifiers) and the like. As harmful bacteria grow quickly in milk, sterilising baby/infant feeding equipment is strongly recommended by general practitioners (GPs) and in particular to protect babies under 12 months of age against germs and infection as this group does not have a fully developed immune system. The most common form of sterilising units are those utilising water to create a sterilising solution in which the items are immersed, and steam units including those heated by electrical, and microwave energies.
The cold water type, generally, uses a large plastic container filled with either cold water into which is added chemicals for example sanitising tablets to form a sterilising/sanitising solution, or a commercially available chemical sterilising solution. The underlying problems with this method are that the objects to be sterilised are required to be immersed in the sterilising solution for prolonged periods of time, generally up to and over an hour, before they are considered to be sufficiently sterilised, for example, feeding bottles for babies/infants. The sterilised items must then be rinsed in recently boiled water before use. Furthermore, due to the buoyant nature of some equipment such as bottles and bottle teats, these tend to float on the surface of the solution. As such, those items may not be fully sterilised and pose a risk to the infant. As chemicals are used in the sterilising solution method, the general public are less inclined to utilise the sterilising solution method, and thus the use of this method is becoming less popular.
One type of electrical sterilisers utilise steam and require no chemicals or rinsing, and simply plug into a mains socket in a wall. The heat of the steam is sufficient to kill bacteria and sterilisation usually takes 8-15 minutes depending on the commercial unit. Generally a hotplate or some other electrical heating element that is powered by electricity generates sufficient heat to generate steam from added water. Microwave sterilisers also do not require chemicals or rinsing, and kill bacteria using steam heat generated by microwave irradiation of water. Generally such units are designed to be placed in a conventional household microwave so do not have an integral microwave source. Sterilisation takes at least 3 minutes, for example from 5 to 10 minutes in a microwave (depending on the microwave wattage). In both cases items generally remain sterile for up to 3 hours if kept within the sterilising unit. Electrical sterilisers are convenient if a microwave is not available and/or a lot of items require sterilisation. However, the problems in using steam to sterilise baby/infant items is that if the sterilising unit is opened prematurely, the hot steam may cause burns to the user. Furthermore, a source of electricity is necessary to provide the energy required to boil water and produce steam, which may be problematic when a parent is travelling with an infant. In addition, the bulkiness of sterilisers make them an inconvenient means of sterilising baby feeding bottles, for example, when a parent is travelling with a baby/infant.
Microwave sterilisers can also double as cold water sterilisers if a source of electricity or microwave is unavailable. However, the problems associated with chemical sterilisation are outlined above.
The use of (ultraviolet) UV light to sterilise work surfaces, equipment and the like require an external source of power, such as a wall socket, to produce a continuous stream of UV light. International Patent Publication No. WO 99/08933 describes a system for sterilising bottles utilising UV light to generate ozone that is in turn used for sterilisation. International Patent Publication No. WO 00/38740 attempted to address the issue of non-portability of sterilising equipment by providing a chamber in which small objects such as bottle nipples (teats), pacifiers, teething rings, etc. can be placed for sterilisation by pulses of UV radiation. The device has a lockout function that prevents operation of the steriliser unless the object to be sterilised is in the chamber. Neither device is suitable for use for sterilising baby bottles.
A company trading under the trade name iLAB America Inc. sells a product under the brand name BBS-1, which is a portable baby bottle steriliser. The BBS-1 is a large cordless device comprising a chamber, a chamber door, and a UV light source within the chamber. A bottle to be sterilised is placed in the chamber and the chamber door must be completely closed in order for the UV light to operate. The BBS-1 is powered by rechargeable batteries or from a power source. The UV light source floods the chamber with UV light for three seconds to sterilise the bottle. The device is about twice the length of a large baby bottle and is thus bulky and heavy.
The problem with the above UV sterilisers is that they are either not suitable for use for sterilising baby bottles and/or are bulky and not convenient to carry around by a user.